Ghosts
by TheDusty321
Summary: Percy teases Thomas about when he thought Percy was a ghost. Ten Cents overhears and asks about it. Both Thomas and Percy tell him of how they scared each other. Ten Cents laughs and then tells them the story of the "Ghost Fleet" that came to Bigg City Port.


Thomas was at Brendam Docks, waiting for Cranky to finish loading some flatbeds for him to collect.

WHEEESH!

Thomas jumped.

"Don't be frightened, Thomas, it's only me!" laughed Percy.

Thomas recovered from his shock and was cross.

"Yes, well, you're ugly fizz is enough to scare anyone!" He remarked.

"Let's not start that again!" Percy replied. "Last time we had that conversation, I got covered in treacle, then hay!"

"True, true!" Thomas smirked, remembering how Percy looked like a caterpillar that day with all of the hay on him.

"What's this about?" asked a voice.

It was Ten Cents, who had arrived recently from a faraway port.

"Percy's just teasing me about the time I thought he was a ghost." Thomas explained.

"A ghost?" Ten Cents asked in confusion.

"Yes." Percy said. "I had smashed into a cartload of lime that night and I looked white as a ghost, so I decided to scare Thomas because he called me a silly engine."

"I take it you were successful?" Ten Cents asked.

"Of course. Thomas ran out of the shed and slept in the goods shed that night." Percy answered, laughing at the memory.

Ten Cents laughed too.

"Well," puffed Thomas, "I soon got him back with a paper dragon, even if it was by accident."

Ten Cents laughed at this too.

"Have you been scared, Ten Cents?" Percy asked.

"Oh, have I ever! Your experiences are nothing compared to this!" Ten Cents said with a grimace.

"How so?" Thomas asked.

"I'll tell you!" Ten Cents said and his story began.

* * *

The fog had come down. Back then; tugs weren't equipped with radios or radar, so it was very easy to get disoriented and start seeing things. It was late one night at Bigg City Port. The Stars were about to go to sleep when Big Mac, a harbor tug, came in fast and looking spooked.

Slow down! You know better than to travel in so fast!" Top Hat, a railway tug, said.

"He's right! You look as if you've seen a ghost!" O.J., the old paddler, commented.

"I… Well, I saw something… I… No, I can't tell ya. You'd only laugh." Big Mac said in a low voice.

"Oh, come on! We weren't even serious!" Top Hat replied.

"Well," Big Mac said, "I have seen ghosts."

"What?!" Top Hat laughed. "You've seen what?!"

"Ghosts!" Big Mac reiterated. "You know Scuttlebutt's story about those tugs that sank in the Great Storm of 1912!"

"They're coming back to get you!" Warrior, another harbor tug, teased.

"Oh, Big Mac." Ten Cents groaned. "You're not taking Scuttlebutt's story for real, are you?"

"Well, I'm not going out there again 'til the fog lifts." Big Mac declared.

"Well, I never thought I'd hear that from a harbor tug!" Top Hat said.

"Well, he could've seen something! There could be ghosts, you never know!" A switcher called Sunshine said.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Really." Top Hat said.

The next morning, the tugs gave Big Mac a hard time as they left for their jobs.

"I knew I shouldn't have told them. I just knew it." Big Mac said.

"Don't mind them! The fog plays funny tricks on us! Nothing really to worry about! As long as you mind what you're doing and keep your wits about you!" O.J. said to him. "But, ghosts, Big Mac?"

"I could've been seeing things. Seemed real enough, mind ya, at the time." Big Mac muttered.

The fog didn't relent. Soon, others saw the ghosts and they were spooked too. Top Hat ended up docking where he was, away from the Star Port. Ten Cents and Sunshine, meanwhile, were taking fuel out to Lillie Lightship, a good friend of theirs who is always out in the water, shining her light so that ships can come in safely.

"Ah! How are we gonna find her in this?!" Sunshine asked.

"O.J. told me to wiggle! To keep the breeze on the same track all the time! That way you beat the current and sail in the right direction! She can't be too far way now!" Ten Cents said.

Then they heard a strange noise.

"Hey! What's that?! Sounds like ice breaking! I don't like it, Ten Cents, what's happening?!" Sunshine asked.

"How should I know?! It's weird!" Ten Cents replied.

Then they saw white tugs sailing around, making no noise at all.

"Look." Ten Cents whispered.

Sunshine gasped.

"It's the Ghost Tugs. They've come to get us." He said.

Then they saw another strange thing.

"Look at the water. It's bubbling. What is it, Ten Cents?! What do we do?!" Sunshine asked frantically.

"How do I know?!" Ten Cents asked back.

As they were talking, something slowly rose out of the water.

"Ah. Look at that." Ten Cents remarked.

"It's… It's a galleon, isn't it?" Sunshine asked.

That's when things really started getting weird. Ten Cents and Sunshine bumped right into each other as lightning struck the galleon. Both were scared now. As the lightning struck the galleon, a menacing face seemed to appear in the fog, though Ten Cents and Sunshine might have been imagining it. Whatever the case may be; Ten Cents shut his eyes.

"That wasn't a face, was it?!" Sunshine asked.

"How could it be?!" Ten Cents replied.

"It had a crown on, like King Neptune, I think!" Sunshine said.

"Now we're seeing things, we must be!" Ten Cents said.

They were backing away at this point; both scared out of their wits. As they left, the mysterious galleon vanished into the fog. Grampus the submarine woke Top Hat the next morning by spraying water on him.

"No! Go away, ghosts! No, don't hurt me! Please, please… Wha… Oh, Grampus." Top Hat said waking up.

"What are you doing here, Top Hat?! What's this about ghosts?!" Grampus asked.

"Did I say 'ghosts'?! I must have been dreaming! I lost my bearings in the fog and moored here for the night!" Top Hat explained.

"Moored _here_?! That is funny!" Grampus said.

"What's so funny?!" Top Hat asked as he raised his wheelhouse up.

"You're only 500 yards from the Star Tugs' peer! It's there! Look!" Grampus explained.

Top Hat saw that Grampus was right and sailed straight there.

"Listen, everyone! I've seen ghost tugs for myself!" He cried.

"We've all seen them!" O.J. put in. "Ten Cents and Sunshine have seen a galleon, too!"

"But, these were ghosts, I assure you! I saw them! Really! Silent! Phantoms of the Sea!" Top Hat continued.

"So you admit ghosts exist now, Top Hat!" Ten Cents said.

"Ghosts?! What's that about, my dears?!" Hercules asked as he pulled in.

"Ghostly white tugs!" Big Mac started.

"Yeah! White tugs and a big galleon!" Ten Cents added in.

"And Neptune, I think!" Sunshine finished.

"I saw them too!" Warrior added.

"You're all going crazy!" Hercules laughed. "Seeing things that aren't there!"

"I'm not sure! I don't know what I saw now!" Sunshine said.

"Well, I'll tell you!" Hercules announced. "They're the White Fleet! Down here from northern waters on the trail of an iceberg! These tugs sail at times with engines off, listening for cracking ice! There was a wooden galleon frozen in this iceberg, which must have melted in our warmer water! That's why you saw the old vessel bob up to the surface! I doubt you saw Neptune, Sunshine. He's for fairy tales. You let the fog get to you, my dears!" Hercules laughed as he finished.

"Hercules! Behind you!" Ten Cents cried out.

Hercules looked and laughed.

" _That's_ your ghostly galleon!" He said.

The tugs watched in embarrassment as Burke and Blair, two tugs dealing in scrap metal, towed the rotting vessel away. Then the story ended.

* * *

Thomas and Percy were speechless. They had never heard such a story.

"I remember that time!" Big Mickey chimed in. "I saw O.J. trying to cut through the crane yard! Ended up scaring the daylights out of Scuttlebutt Pete!"

Everyone laughed.

"That certainly sounds scary." Percy said.

"Oh, it was." Ten Cents replied. "I don't think any of us will ever forget that fog. We almost lost our minds because of it."


End file.
